Case-Shiller: Phoenix low priced homes up 7.6% August-December. Phoenix 1 of 2 cities to see home prices increase in December 2011

Case-Shiller released data on Monday for metro Phoenix that splits the price index into three price level indices.

This Case-Shiller index is the best data available for estimating actual appreciation (or depreciation). The downside to the Case-Shiller Index, however, is that it runs a little old, the most current data is only through December 2011.

Tier Breakpoints (December 2011)

Low Tier – Up to $99,075

Middle Tier – $99,075 – $173,559

High Tier – $173,559 and up

December 2011 Results

The low price tier in metro Phoenix increased by 2.7% between November and December and 7.6% between August and December.

The middle price tier in metro Phoenix increased by 4.5% between May and December.

Phoenix was one of only two metro areas to see an increase in home prices between November and December. Miami was the other. The percentage price increase in Phoenix was 4 times the home price increase in Miami. (Case-Shiller follows 20 metro areas.)

These Phoenix home price increases during the fall are not common which suggests even greater price increases during the high season (February-June) when it’s more common for Phoenix home prices to increase.

Conclusion

Phoenix has been the top residential real estate market in the United States with price increases for the last 3 months. Phoenix beat out Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles which all saw price declines each of the past 3 months.

Related: USA TODAY on Phoenix Real Estate

Signs of upturn in Phoenix’s long-suffering housing market

The Phoenix housing market is showing signs of improvement, even generating bidding wars among buyers for lower-priced homes.

The area was one of the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis. Prices had fallen 57% from their peak.

ADDED: From Elliot Pollack’s weekly e-newsletter – March 5, 2012

Finally, the Case-Shiller home price indices (for both the 10 and 20 city index) fell in December. Both the 10 and 20 city composites fell by 1.1% in December over November and now stand about 4.0% below year earlier levels. The most interesting news, though, is that Phoenix was one of only two cities in the index that showed an increase in housing prices. Miami was the other. The index for Phoenix was up 0.8 in December over November. Phoenix also experienced an increase (0.6%) in November over October. Thus, it appears that the dynamics in terms of the balance of supply and demand in Greater Phoenix are becoming more positive.